


Bright Forever

by endsinafight



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, But there's more to him than that, Disabled Character, Everyone Else is Alive, F/M, Gen, Julie is only one year younger than the guys, Julie's mom is still dead, No Smut, luke is going blind, retinitis pigmentosa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28060587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endsinafight/pseuds/endsinafight
Summary: Luke’s no stranger to needing help, but he’s determined to prove to his parents and the rest of the world that he can make it on his own, and that the one thing that makes him happy isn’t a huge waste of time. Julie is still reeling from the loss of her mother and can’t imagine getting back into music, no matter how much her dad would like her to.Together the two of them learn that the family you choose can be both a solace and a support if you let it, and that neither of them has to be defined by what they’ve lost.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Reggie & Luke Patterson, Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story features a main character (Luke) with an eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. Luke’s experience with the disease is based on a friend of mine’s experience, but please be aware that RP is a disease that varies widely in how it progresses. A lot of Luke’s thoughts and feelings surrounding his condition are ones shared by my friend and written about with his blessing. However, this is not inspiration porn. I’m trying to walk a fine line here between an honest portrayal of how much having low vision can suck, and the reality that while having an eye disease certainly affects your every waking moment, it’s not all there is to you. How well you feel I do with that balance may depend upon your personal feelings on the subject, but please know that this fic is offered with the simple desire to present a mostly realistic (in a fictional world) representation of an experience that affects people who don’t typically see a lot of representation in mainstream media.

Luke’s always known he was different, it just takes him a while to find out _why_.

His mom likes to tell people that he’s a sensitive kid, too afraid of the dark to get up at night without turning on all the lights. But he’s never been _scared_ of the dark; he just can’t _see_ in it.

But once he’s about 11 other things start happening. Luke starts noticing that objects just disappear around him sometimes. Someone throws a ball towards him and he knows it’s coming - he saw the throw - but the ball just sort of disappears mid-air.

Only to reappear as it hits him in the stomach. 

His family assumes that sports aren’t his thing. Maybe he just lacks the coordination to catch. Maybe he’s afraid of the ball, and that’s the real reason he starts cringing automatically as soon as someone tosses something to him. 

Not that they’d believe it, but the truth is that Luke isn’t afraid of anything. Not the dark, and not some dumb teleporting ball that disappears mid-air. But it’s not until he starts losing things around the house that his parents begin to get concerned.

His mom is cooking and she drops a whisk on the floor. She looks down and scoops it up, rinsing it quickly in the sink before continuing whatever she was doing. His dad goes to grab the mail and an envelope slips from his fingers to the floor. He glances down and grabs it right up.

Luke figures they must have some sort of Parental Powers of Finding Things because every time he drops something it takes him an eternity to find it. A paper drops from his binder as he’s taking it out of his backpack, and he stands there for ages staring at the floor trying to figure out where it went. His pencil bag gets knocked off the table during homework, and he searches the floor, baffled, wondering how far it could’ve gone that he can’t see it anywhere. 

Those kinds of things, at least, his parents assume are just stalling tactics. I mean, who wants to rush to get to their homework?

But when he’s 12 and he drops the chord book he got with his new guitar, they finally realize something’s wrong. He might not be in a rush to get to his homework, but he wants that book back. And watching him stand there frantically scanning the floor for a book that’s lying just a couple of feet away sets some alarm bells ringing in their heads.

Who-knows-how-many appointments later, he finally sits in an eye specialist’s office and learns why things are so different for him - he has an eye disease. No night vision and blind spots in his visual field are both common symptoms of Retinitis Pigmentosa. 

The name means absolutely nothing to him, but he hopes he’ll never be asked to spell it - he doubts he could even pronounce it back to the doctor. 

As the doctor goes on to explain the diagnosis, his mother bursts into tears. Whatever-it’s-called has no cure and basically means he’s destined to end up legally blind at some point - most likely before he hits middle age.

Which seems like a long way off, but apparently his mother doesn’t think so.

In subsequent appointments with his brand new ophthalmologist, he learns that they’ll be monitoring the progress of his vision loss - because yeah, it’s happening. His visual field will get more and more narrow until he’s seeing the world through a little peep hole. It’s possible that one day his world may close in so much that he can’t see anything beyond lights and shadows.

Of course, all that means very little to Luke at the time. His main concern is whether or not his fingers will be affected. He’s only just started learning guitar, but he’s taken to it like a fish to water and he already can’t imagine having to give it up.

Bemused, the doctor assures him that his fingers won’t be affected - only his eyes. Which Luke figures is okay, right? There are plenty of blind musicians - good ones. And his beginning guitar book has already mentioned memorizing hand placement so he doesn’t have to look down at the frets while playing. 

It’s okay… probably because at the age of 13 none of it seems real, but he supposes he’ll figure it out as he goes.

Things are a little less okay in high school when backpacks left on the hallway floor become a real tripping hazard for him. His parents make him see an occupational therapist to learn how to use a white cane but he absolutely refuses to bring it to school. 

Well, he refuses to _use_ it at school - or anywhere else, actually - but his mom insists that he carry it around folded up inside his backpack “just in case.”

Which is stupid because RP is a slow disease and he still has a lot of vision left. Sure, when he’s looking straight ahead he can’t see the floor at all, but he’s taken to looking down when he walks so he doesn’t trip as often.

That, of course, means that he misses it when people wave to him in the hallway - but his friends know they have to yell out his name if they want him to know they’re around, so who cares about anybody else?

The best part about high school - despite his parents maybe wishing otherwise - is the band. He’s known Reggie since 5th grade, and Alex since 7th, they meet Bobby freshman year, and BOOM - Sunset Curve is born. He and Reggie have been casually jamming together since Luke learned his first few chords, and Alex picked up drums in middle school and has gotten amazing on the kit. Bobby is a little newer on rhythm guitar, but he’s a quick learner and really helps fill out their sound.

They practice in Bobby’s garage whenever they aren’t in school - and their parents aren’t keeping them locked in with homework. First they do covers, but eventually Luke starts fooling around with writing music for them. 

And honestly, it’s what keeps him sane. High school sucks, tripping down the halls and being accused of being clumsy or aloof - sucks. But music is freedom, and he _loves_ performing. When he’s in front of a crowd he’s not Luke-the-kid-with-the-vision-problem, he’s a rockstar. Or at least he feels like one, and that’s good enough for now.

His vision is slowly getting worse, but while Luke places the emphasis on “slowly”, his mom focuses on “worse.” Every time he goes to the ophthalmologist and comes back with a report on his shrinking field of vision, it starts a whole new round of “you need to figure out what you’re going to do with your life, Luke!”

As if he hasn’t already figured it out - he’s doing music. Done.

Cue the shouting match - they are becoming more and more regular - as they fail to come to any sort of agreement. She wants him to accept that he’s going blind, learn Braille, take more occupational therapy classes, study a “safe” subject that will allow him to get a “real” job… meanwhile, he wants to enjoy his life, he wants to play his guitar and write music, and hang out with his friends.

His mother acts like he’s going to wake up the next day with no vision at all and suddenly find himself forty and jobless. 

She wants him to quit music - but that’s never going to happen. 

Sometimes it feels like performing with the band is the only time he doesn’t feel different. It connects him with people in a way that he can never seem to connect other times. He can’t move around as much on stage as he’d like to - but he can _feel_ the crowd. The energy is amazing.

Sunset Curve spends most of high school doing whatever local gigs they can get. From a school dance to open mics in local parks and coffee shops, to book clubs - because why not? They’re really gelling as a group and by the time they’re graduating, Luke is sure that they’ll be doing this forever.

Which is why when Bobby heads off to college out of state, the rest of them are blindsided - no pun intended. Every time they’ve talked about sticking together, either going to a local college or just getting jobs until they make it, Bobby has been right there with them, but suddenly they graduate and he’s gone. Just like that. He quits the band and moves away.

And okay, it’s a blow, but they get past it. Luke sorta gets it - his mom has been on him more and more to do something with his life - something other than the one thing that truly makes him happy - maybe Bobby’s parents had been harassing him, too.

In any case, life goes on. 

Well, life goes on for about a week, but then it gets bumpy again. Reggie’s parents finally file for a divorce and decide to sell their house. Reggie doesn’t want to live with either of them, so he and Alex decide to find a place together. Alex has been wanting to leave home for a while anyway - things haven’t been the same for him at home since he came out to his parents. 

With Alex working at a restaurant and Reggie at a grocery store, they can afford rent, but not the initial deposit, but after a few fairly successful gigs - where they actually manage to _sell_ a little merchandise instead of giving it away - Sunset Curve has enough money to cover it.

Which is only fair because the little rundown 2-bedroom has a small garage which will shortly become their new practice space.

The summer after high school or, the “summer from hell”, as they decide to name it, is nearly over when they hit the final bump.

His parents decide that “play time” is over; they want him to buckle down and “get serious” about his future. They give him an ultimatum: he has to enroll in college or they’re taking his guitar away.

Which, okay, maybe he could’ve swallowed that. Maybe he could’ve just enrolled in one class to keep them happy.

But after they argue a bit, it becomes clear that they’re never going to be happy. They don’t want him in music, they don’t see a _future_ for him in music. Which is stupid because they’ve never even heard the band play. They dismiss his love of music as a silly distraction from “real” life and they accuse him of using it to avoid growing up.

“I’m 17, Mom, not 50! It’s not like I have a ton of bills to pay.”

“But you will! You’re out of high school now - it’s time to grow up!”

“So I’ll get a job.”

“Doing what, exactly? What are you even qualified to do, Luke? Jam sessions don’t pay the bills!”

“So, what? I’m supposed to become an insurance salesman or something? You want me to be miserable?”

“I want you to grow up and accept the fact that you don’t get to be a professional bum the rest of your life!”

So a few weeks out of high school and he’s already a bum just because he hasn’t applied for school or found a job yet?

“You know what? If having me around is such a burden, then maybe I’ll just leave!” He storms to his room to grab his guitar. He just needs to get out of the house and clear his head a bit, and he doesn’t trust them not to do something with it while he’s with the guys.

Only his guitar isn’t where he left it.

It should be where he left it. He always leaves things in the same place because otherwise they’re too damn hard to find. So the fact that it’s not there…

He opens his door to yell back into the living room where he’s left his parents. “Where’s my guitar?”

“It’s put away until you get your act together.”

And that’s just… he can’t do it. They can’t just take from him the one thing that keeps him sane. 

He’s done.

He gets a duffle out of his closet and stuffs it with his music notebook and as many of his clothes as it’ll hold, and then he calls Alex - the only one of his friends with an actual car - for a ride.

He knows it won’t take him long to get there, so he heads to the front door, intending to wait in front of the house.

“Where do you think you’re going?” his mom’s voice comes from the kitchen.

“I’m leaving. Congrats, looks like I’m grown up.” 

“I don’t think so. Go back to your room until lunch is ready.”

His heart is pounding, but he takes a steadying breath and opens the front door, stepping out and closing it firmly behind him as his mom starts to yell again. He’s halfway down the drive by the time she makes it outside, shouting for him to get his ass back in the house.

"I’m moving out! I can’t stay here anymore!”

“Moving out? What do you know about the real world, huh? You’re a child, Luke! You can’t take care of yourself!”

And oh how he’s tired of hearing people say that he can’t do things. _You can’t do sports, Luke, you can’t see well enough. You can’t trick-or-treat, son, it’s too dark for you out there. You can’t drive, Luke, your vision isn’t good enough._

“I _can_ take care of myself, and I _will_!” he answers, frustration bubbling over. 

He turns around to face the street again, hoping Alex hurries.

Now his dad has come outside to join the argument, and Luke is kinda glad that he can’t see if any neighbors are watching.

“Listen to your mother, Luke. You’re not ready to be out on your own. Just come back inside and we’ll talk about it.”

He ignores them. He’s done talking about it - they’ve been talking about it for years and nothing ever changes.

“Luke!” his dad bellows, and then his mom’s voice cuts in: “You think you’re so grown up? Who’s going to pay your bills? What about your cell phone, huh? You think that’s free?”

He answers by digging his phone out of his pocket and tossing it onto the lawn behind him. He doesn’t turn around again, stubbornly facing the street as he waits for Alex. 

It’s another one of the shitty things about having low vision - it makes it so much harder to just _leave_. If he could see better he’d just hop on a bike, or even run down the block. Instead, he’s standing on the sidewalk while his parents put on a show for the neighbors.

“Don’t you do this, Luke! Don’t you dare!” His mom is still yelling, but his pounding heart and quick breaths are starting to drown it out. 

“Don’t be surprised if the door’s locked when you come back here! You’re not getting back in this house without a lot of apologizing!” he vaguely hears his father yell.

Suddenly Alex’s car is pulling up to the curb, and he starts forward only to feel a sharp tug on the back of his shirt. His mom is still screaming, but the pressure suddenly disappears and he hears his dad telling her “No, let him go. He needs to learn the hard way.”

He doesn’t even realize that he’s nearly hyperventilating until Alex pulls over several blocks away. “Luke… Luke, I’m gonna touch your shoulder okay?”

Alex waits for him to nod and then gives his shoulder a squeeze. “Take off your seatbelt and put your head between your knees, man. We’ve got time. You’re safe.”

Luke numbly obeys while Alex continues to speak words that don’t really register, though the tone is comforting. Alex’s hand drifts from his shoulder to gently rub his back while Luke gets himself under control.

And when he does, he just feels stupid. He lifts the edge of his shirt to wipe at his eyes and sits back, reconnecting his seatbelt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you into this mess.”

“Dude, really? It’s me. Don’t apologize for this. You good now?”

Luke nods and closes his eyes as he feels the car pulling back into traffic. “Guess I’m an adult a little early.”

“That’s right, your birthday’s next week! Think your parents will still report you missing?”

“Nah. They think I’m gonna come crawling back, begging to be let in.” Suddenly he remembers what he left behind. “Hey, can you let everyone know that I don’t have my phone anymore?”

  
  


Luke isn’t surprised when they pull up to Alex and Reggie’s new place, the fact that they’d take him in has never even been a question in his mind.

But it still feels shitty. They both have jobs. And unlike his parents, neither of them have any obligation to take care of him. He’s about to become the bum his parents have always talked about him being - unemployed and sleeping on someone’s couch.

And the worst part is that he didn’t even get his guitar back, so now he’s no good to them as a band member either.

The guys, of course, are nothing but welcoming, acting like they’re excited to have him stay there. They even offer him one of the rooms, but he absolutely refuses - he can’t even pay for his own food, let alone contribute to the rent - there’s no way he’s taking up any more space than he has to.

Luke doesn’t have a job, but he has a bank account. Right now, all he’s got in there is the little bit of money he’s saved up here and there, but he figures that if he can find a cheap guitar on sale at the music store, maybe he can do some busking for cash. 

Ironically, going to look for a guitar leads him to an actual job. It turns out that the music store is looking for someone to teach guitar lessons out of the classroom attached to their shop. It just so happens that the owner recognizes him from one of their gigs in the park and he offers him the job with only a cursory interview.

So now Luke not only has a job, but he also has an employee discount which he will definitely be putting to good use. Just as soon as he gets paid.


	2. Chapter 2

Julie regards the music store in front of her with distaste. Music stores in general don’t have a super strong connection to her mother in her mind, but she doesn’t like the idea of what this represents.

Her mother’s been gone nearly seven months and while she may not be crying herself to sleep every night anymore, she in no way feels ready to get back into music. But she promised her dad so…

Last semester her school was extremely lenient about her not feeling up to performing after her mother died, but she’s starting her senior year this week and they were pretty clear that if she wanted to stay in the music program, she’d have to start participating again in the new school year.

So her dad suggested guitar lessons. She’s never played guitar - piano and voice were her mom’s instruments of choice - Julie’s too. Her dad seems to think that maybe if she tries a totally different instrument it’ll help her recover her love of music without triggering too many painful memories.

She’d wanted to refuse because honestly, she hates the idea… but she’d seen something in her dad’s eyes that made her realize that in all her grief she’d sorta lost sight of the fact that her dad is hurting too. He’s not musical himself, but their home has always been filled with music and she knows - because she overheard a tearful conversation he had with her aunt one day - that the lack of music in their home is making the pain of missing his wife even sharper.

So here she is. Standing outside this stupid music store, glaring at the mix of sale announcements and music posters that decorate the front window.

It takes her a few minutes to finally get inside, but it doesn’t matter - she’s come early to turn in the paperwork to register for the classes anyway. Her dad is pre-paying for ten 30-minute lessons, and after that he says they’ll decide together based on how she feels.

Registering at the front counter is quicker than she expected - apparently the teacher is new so the afternoon schedule is still pretty open. She chooses Monday afternoons for the next nine lessons - Mondays always suck anyway, so why not add to the misery?

Once that’s taken care of, she’s told she can wander the store until her lesson or just wait in one of the chairs that line the little hallway in the back of the store that leads to the music room. 

She’s not about to wander around, so she heads back to plop into one of the chairs. If she leans forward, she can see through the glass part of the door into the room where a kid who can’t be older than 7 or 8 is tentatively strumming a little guitar. The room must be at least mostly sound proof, though, because she can’t hear anything other than the classic rock music playing over the speakers in the store.

Her lesson starts in about ten minutes, and after five, the little boy comes tumbling out of the room, guitar in hand. He calls “Later, Mr. Luke!” as he scampers away.

She hears a chuckle and “Later, Brian!” before the door shuts again.

It isn’t quite time yet for her lesson, so she opts to stay in her seat and mess around on her phone for the last few minutes. She doesn’t get up until it’s exactly her appointment time, feeling like she’s wading through molasses as she approaches the classroom.

There’s a sign on the door, but it only says to wait outside while lessons are in progress, so since there’s no lesson in progress, she takes a big breath, grabs the handle, and opens the door.

She’s one step in when her breath catches in her throat. She knows the guy.

Well, she doesn’t  _ know him _ , know him… but she definitely knows who he is. She’s pretty sure everyone at her school knows who he is. He’s the lead singer and guitarist from Sunset Curve.

And he’s here.

Teaching guitar?

To her.

Yeah, her brain’s gonna need a minute to process this.

Normally, the students at Los Feliz don’t like acknowledging that musical talent might exist in students who don’t attend their - let’s face it -  _ pretentious  _ \- music program. But when Sunset Curve had started playing around town a couple years back, they’d had to admit that the guys were good. Kids in her school had immediately started trying to figure out what school they went to. And even after they found out that none of the members of Sunset Curve went to any sort of music school, they still became fans. 

All this passes through her mind a lightning speed, along with the realization that Flynn is going to freak out.

“Hi, Julie? I’m Luke.”

_ Shit! _ Her brain’s picked a bad time to go offline. “Uh, yeah. Hi.”

He’s sitting there on a stool, holding a guitar against his chest, biceps on full display because apparently the sleeveless thing isn’t just for performances.

She sits in the stool positioned across from him. “I… sorry, I didn’t bring a guitar.”

There’s a stand nearby with three other guitars on it, but he immediately hands her the one he’s holding. “You can use this one for now, but it’ll be better in the long run if you bring in whatever guitar you’ll be practicing on.”

Well this is awkward. “I don’t actually own a guitar… I’m not really…” She swallows. “I’m kinda just here because my dad wants me to be - I don’t really want to learn guitar.”

He blinks, and the expression on his face is definitely one of confusion. “Your dad is making you take guitar lessons?”

“Basically, yeah. It’s complicated. He prepaid ten lessons, so… sorry, but I can wait outside if you want to use this time to do something else.”

“Nah, if you leave the manager will think I ended the lesson early or something. Tell you what, you hold onto that one” he reaches over and grabs one of the guitars from the stand beside him, “and I’ll hold this one, so if someone looks through the window it at least looks like you’re having a lesson.”

He positions his fingers on the new guitar. “Can you help me out? Just pluck the top string on that guitar for me.”

He tunes the guitar he’s holding as she plucks one string at a time, then once he has it in tune, he starts to quietly strum random chords while they chat.

“So, you still in school?”

“Yeah, I’m a senior this year at Los Feliz.”

“Los Feliz? Cool. I hear they have an awesome music program.”

“Yeah, I’m - I’m in the music program, actually.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “Really? Your dad?”

“No, I’m there voluntarily.” She sighs. “I play piano. I did. I don’t know anymore, it’s complicated.”

“Hmm. Sounds like it. Well, have you seen any good movies lately?”

Just like that, he drops it. They chat about movies and TV and Julie even tells him a little about Flynn, but he doesn’t bring up music again, to her relief.

Before she knows it, their time is up and she hands the guitar back.

“When’s your next non-lesson?”

She smirks. “Monday afternoon. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to come ready to not learn.”

His smile is wide and cheerful. “That’s all I ask.”

  
  


“How was the first lesson?” her dad asks over dinner that night.

“Good. The teacher’s nice.” she answers honestly. Because chatting with Luke for half an hour had been good. He hadn’t pressed her about music, and since he didn’t know about her mom, he wasn’t all sympathetic the whole time, or talking about how happy her mom would be if she just tried singing again.

“That’s great, honey.” Her dad squeezes her hand, a spark of happiness in his eyes.

It doesn’t occur to her until later that night that her dad might actually expect her to know something about guitars when this is over.

  
  


School starts that Thursday - and why, exactly, does the school year always seem to start on a Thursday? In any case, it’s a light day - just getting to all her classes, picking up her books, and listening to the teachers’ introductions. There’s no homework yet, so Flynn comes over after school so they can hang out.

“So there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you.” she starts.

“Is it going to freak me out? Is that why you waited for school to be out? You’re not quitting the music program, are you? I swear, Jules-”

“No! No, it’s not about that. Remember when I told you my dad wanted me to take guitar lessons to help me get back into music?”

Flynn nods impatiently, gesturing for her to get on with it.

“Well I had my first lesson and… the teacher is the lead singer from Sunset Curve.”

Flynn screams.

“And that’s why I waited until after school to tell you.” she mutters, mostly to herself because Flynn is still screaming.

She’s finally interrupted by a knock on the door. Her father peaks his head in. “Everything okay in here?”

“Yeah, Dad. It’s just girl stuff.”

“Ah.” He nods and closes the door again.

“Flynn.”

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just… wow. Luke, right? The one who can’t stand to cover his arms up?  _ He’s _ your teacher? That’s wild. Like… you have no idea how wild that is.”

“I have some idea.”

“So what’s he like? Oh my god, you realize that the people at school will lose their minds over this, right? Remember the concert last year? First everyone was all ‘meh they don’t even go here how good can they really be?’ and then after they were like ‘omg aren’t they so talented? Let’s all become their biggest fans!’”

“Hold up, we’re not telling anyone at school. The poor guy would get bombarded by cheerleaders trying to take lessons from him just so they could stare at his arms all day.”

“Isn’t that what you did?”

“No!”

“Oh, so then you’re really learning guitar?”

“No…”

Flynn crosses her arms, smirking at Julie. “So basically, you just don’t want the competition.”

“Ugh. No! He just seems like a nice guy and I’d hate to see him trampled by the cheer squad.”

“He might  _ want _ to be trampled by the cheer squad.”

Julie groans in frustration. “Okay, then he can invite them himself. But I’m not helping.”

“Fair, fair. Gotta keep the man to yourself. So if you’re not learning guitar, what exactly are you  _ doing  _ all lesson?”

“Just talking. I literally just held one of the guitars while we chatted.”

“What’d you talk about?”

“Movies, TV… just random, casual things.”

“Did you at least ask when their next gig is?”

“I didn’t tell him that I recognized him! I didn’t want to make it awkward.”

“Yeah, because saying ‘hey I love your music, when is your band performing again?’ is so awkward. Honestly, Julie, at least do it for me. They haven’t updated their twitter in a while and my thirst is very real.”

  
  


The whole ‘telling Flynn’ thing goes about as Julie expected it would, and the rest of the weekend almost passes uneventfully until her dad comes up to her room Sunday night to ask where her guitar is.

“What guitar?”

“Did they not give you one to practice on?” Suddenly, realization dawns on his face and Julie thinks she’s busted until he says, “You probably have to pay to rent one, huh? I’m sorry, mija. I’ll give you the money so you can take care of it tomorrow, okay?”

  
  


At Monday’s lesson, Luke gives her a guitar to hold again while they chat, and when she asks about a rental, he gives her the name of their cheapest rental guitar so she doesn’t spend all her dad’s money on something she has no intention of using.

They spend the rest of the lesson arguing about horror films. It turns out that Luke is one of those annoying people who finds them funny rather than scary.

“I’m just saying - if you’re gonna go investigate a noise in the attic in the middle of the night, you probably deserve what’s coming to you.”

“So, what? You watch and hope the people get eaten or something? You root for the monsters?”

He shrugs, eyes full of mischief. “It’s more fun that way. And it pisses my friends off so that’s a bonus.”

She shakes her head. “You’re impossible.”


	3. Chapter 3

An unexpected benefit of working the day shift at the music store is that he feels like he gets the easier clients. Most of the people coming in for guitar lessons from morning to afternoon are really young kids, or middle-aged adults who’ve suddenly decided to try a new hobby. The person who teaches evenings and weekends sees mostly guys with more ego than talent who are way less likely to take advice on how to hold their instrument.

So it kinda shocks him when he suddenly gets a cute girl on his schedule. And one that apparently has no interest in actually learning anything. 

Of course, he gets paid whether she learns or not, but his music-loving soul absolutely cannot comprehend why anyone would want to throw away the chance to take up an instrument. Plus, he has a hard time understanding how someone from Los Feliz’s music program would completely turn their back on music. He figures there’s got to be a story there, but something about the way she tells him that it’s “complicated” convinces him not to press the issue.

So Monday afternoons become Getting-to-Know-Julie hour. Or half-hour. Whatever.

And it sorta sneaks up on him, how much he enjoys it. 

In fact, he doesn’t even really realize how much of his and Julie’s conversations are starting to stick with him until Alex and Reggie point it out one day.

Luke suggests a movie to watch because “Julie says it’s hilarious.”

“You seem to know a lot more about Julie than any of your other students.” Reggie comments in a tone that suggests that Luke’s been hiding something.

“Julie loves this show!” Alex says way too enthusiastically.

“Julie hates cookies that have caramel in them,” Reggie contributes.

“Julie thinks those little dogs that look like mops are adorable!” Alex pauses, “She’s right about that, though.”

“Oh yeah, those dogs are so cute!”

“It’s not like that, come on.” Is it? He doesn’t think he talks about her that much. “Of course I know a lot about her - we’ve been talking for like a month now!”

When he’d first told them that Julie’s lessons weren’t actually lessons at all, they’d thought it was hilarious. Here was a girl from Los Feliz’s  _ music _ program, refusing to let her dad force her to learn guitar - they’d claimed they were inspired by her audacity. But as time went on, Alex had pointed out that she’d probably get in trouble when it was all over if she still didn’t know anything about the instrument, which had made the whole thing a little less funny to them. 

Then Reggie had wondered if Julie might be stuck in the middle of some kind of parental battle. Maybe her dad wants her to do music, but her mom is against it. 

Luke knows that Reggie is particularly sensitive to a parent trying to pit their kid against the other parent, but he doesn’t feel like that’s the case for Julie. 

“Look, we’re kinda friends. She’s easy to talk to, okay? It’s not a big deal.”

Reggie and Alex exchange a look that he doesn’t understand. And since when are they exchanging looks about him? How long has this been going on? 

“Did you tell her that we’re playing at her school’s Homecoming dance next week?” 

“We’ve never talked about the band, so no. Besides, I’m sure Los Feliz has advertised it. It’s not like I have to tell her what’s already on their Homecoming flyers.”

He’s looking at the TV now, so he can’t see the guys, but he knows they’re exchanging another look. He can feel it.

  
  


The biggest downside to not being rich and famous is that they have to do all their own set up for gigs. Luckily, the school has agreed to leave a drum set for Alex in the gym where they’ll be playing, so at least they don’t have to haul Alex’s kit out of the garage. 

They head down to the school early Saturday afternoon and find a little stage set up at one end of the gym, with the drums in one corner. Alex immediately starts rearranging them the way he likes, while Reggie and Luke haul over their guitar and microphone stands.

Like most stages, this one has dark flooring, but both Luke’s stands are white so they’re easier to see against the floor. 

He imagines people probably just think he’s quirky - which is fine with him.

He’s never talked about his eyesight at any of their concerts. Partly because it’s no one’s damn business, but mostly because it’s too much of a distraction. The last thing he wants is people thinking about his eyesight when they’re supposed to be focusing on the music. 

Besides, he feels like wearing sunglasses sometimes onstage when the lights are too bright kinda lends itself to his rockstar image. 

Right now, his sunglasses are hanging on the front of his shirt while he stands onstage, trying to determine if the lights the school has set up are going to be too bright for him when they turn them on tonight.

Reggie slides up next to him. “What do you think?”

He shrugs. “They don’t look that powerful, but they set them up pretty close. I’ll probably wear the shades.” Which won’t help once they get off stage if the lights are too dim in the rest of the gym, but they’ll hopefully at least prevent a migraine from the bright light.

“I’ll wear mine too.”

“Same!” Alex calls from where he’s still messing around with the drums.

It’s nothing new, that the guys would follow his lead in something like this, but he feels the pang in his chest all the same. There’s no one else in the world he’d rather perform with.

  
  
The stage lights end up being brighter than they appeared capable of when they were turned off earlier in the day, but the sunglasses take the edge off. They usually start shows off with a few fast-paced numbers to get the crowd going, but this crowd seems pretty hyped from the start. Luke’s not sure if it’s the band they’re excited about, or just homecoming in general, but either way he’ll take it. It’s always way more fun to play to an energetic crowd.

The book club hadn’t been nearly as cool.

When it’s time for some slower songs, Luke leaves his electric hanging from his back and grabs the acoustic off his stand - and thank goodness for employee discounts because he likes the way these songs sound on acoustic more than electric.

They go through a few ballads - their own, and some covers, and even during the softer music, the crowd’s energy is still palpable. 

They’re really a great crowd.

After the slower set, Luke holds out his acoustic, trusting Reggie to grab it and put it back on its stand, and he leans into the mic. “Ready to rock out some more?”

The answering cheer is nearly deafening in the gym.

After their performance, they grab their instruments and get ready to head off stage while a teacher comes up to introduce the DJ who’ll be finishing off the dance. Reggie comes over to grab his acoustic and says into his ear, “You ready?”

Luke smiles wide, knowing the crowd is still watching them. “Yep!” He throws an arm around Reggie and they walk off stage together, as if they’re the best of friends.

Which they are, but if Luke could see anything at all right now, he’d walk  _ himself  _ off the stage. No reason for the audience to know that, though. His eyes always take forever to adjust after being in too-bright light, so even if the gym were well-lit, seeing right now would be a challenge.

Luckily, the gym’s back door is just to the side of the stage, so they make their exit without any fuss. They’ll come by tomorrow to finish cleaning up and grab the cables and stands they left behind. 

“Is it me, or were they way more excited than the last time we played a high school?” Alex asks, once they’re back in the car.

“No, they were definitely hyped. Luke, think your girl Julie’s been talking us up at the school?”

Their teasing barely registers - he’s still got all the post-show energy coursing through him, and it feels great. “Yeah, or maybe it’s because we just rock! Hey, let’s stop for ice cream!”

Alex takes them to a drive-thru ice cream shop, and they order and take it back to the house.

“I don’t know how you can eat that. It looks disgusting.” Reggie moans from the other side of the sofa.

Luke takes a huge bite. “Mmmm so good.” he mumbles with his mouth full. He can hear both guys making disgusted noises, but it doesn’t bother him. They’ve told him more than once that his ice cream order makes him sound like a pregnant woman, but he likes it too much to care.

The high lasts through the rest of the weekend and soon enough Monday rolls around and it’s time for Julie’s lesson. In all the time that she’s been coming, it seems like they’ve talked about almost everything  _ except  _ music, but Luke can’t help but wonder if she’ll comment about the Homecoming show.

Because there’s no way she didn’t find out about it. Right? Even if she didn’t actually attend the dance, there’s no way she wouldn’t have heard about it…

When the time comes, she marches in and falls onto her stool with a huff. 

Luke looks up, sensing that something’s off. He knows that she’s not interested in learning the guitar, but she doesn’t usually show up to lessons looking like she’s expecting to suffer.

“Hey, Julie. What’s up? Did you have a good weekend?” he starts, because that seems safe enough.

She sighs. “The weekend was fine - nice show, by the way - but of course the universe hates me so today I found out that I have three weeks to perform or I lose my spot in the music program.  _ Three weeks _ .”

_ Nice show? _ It’s not a glowing endorsement, but at least it answers the question of whether or not she knows about the band. And it kinda implies that she saw the show… but  _ nice _ isn’t usually a word he hears associated with their music - he’s not even sure if he can take it as a compliment.

He blinks and tries to force his brain back on track because Julie is still muttering about three weeks not being enough time and how she isn’t ready. And yeah, it sounds stressful, he supposes, but he’s not quite sure what the main issue is. Luke’s kinda been under the impression that she didn’t even want to  _ be  _ in the music program. Hadn’t she told him the very first lesson that she’d quit piano or something?

“Do you want to stay in the music program?” is all he can think to ask.

“No! Yes! I don’t know. Music has kinda always been my thing - I’m not interested in anything else.”

Now that, he can work with. Music has always been his thing, too. “Okay, so what do you need? Want help picking out a song? What’s your skill level on the piano?”

She glares at him. “I don’t need help picking out a song, I need more time.”

“Oh okay. So uh… can you ask the teacher for an extension or something? If you don’t have a piano to practice on at home, I’m sure you could use one of the ones here…”

“They already gave me an extension! I literally haven’t performed since last year! And no, I don’t want to use one of the stupid pianos in this stupid shop. What I want is to get into a time machine and erase this whole year! The last thing I want is to have to perform in three weeks!”

Luke’s mouth drops open. He literally has no idea what to say. She wants to stay in the music program because music is her thing, but she doesn’t want to perform. But she’ll be kicked out of the program if she doesn’t perform so…

“I mean… it doesn’t sound like you have much of a choice…” he says gently as he can.

She clamps her mouth shut and then in a strangled voice says, “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” before lurching up and heading back out the door.

That went well. He feels bad because she’s obviously really struggling with the whole performing thing - maybe it’s stage fright? He wonders if something terrible happened the last time she performed that made her scared to do it again.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a remedy for that. Or anything, really. He sets his guitar on its stand and heads to the door to see if she’s out in the hallway, but when he peeks out, the only one waiting in the chairs is his next appointment.

He heads back over to his stool and sinks down, replaying their conversation to see if he could’ve said or done anything different. His stomach clenches at the thought that this might be it - she might decide to stop coming to lessons. He might never see her again.


	4. Chapter 4

_ Earlier _

“Julie, why in the name of all that is holy, didn’t you tell me that Sunset Curve is performing at our Homecoming dance?”

Julie looks up from her lunch tray where she’s been poking the fruit salad and regretting the fact that she forgot to bring lunch from home today. Flynn has that wild look she gets when she’s just said something incredibly dramatic, and Julie has to rewind the last few seconds in her brain to figure out what she just said.

“Because I didn’t know? How would I even know something like that?”

Flynn scoots in beside her on the bench, but speaks way too loud for someone who’s now sitting right next to her. “Because you talk to their lead singer on the regular? You know, Luke Patterson?”

Julie glances around nervously at the people in the lunch area, trying to see if anyone’s overheard Flynn’s very-easy-to-overhear exclamation. “Ha ha, Flynn. In my dreams, right?”

She nudges her with an elbow for emphasis because the last thing she needs is Sunset Curve’s fan club descending on their lunch table.

Because the group literally has a fan club at this school. Like, a legitimate club. Julie remembers when some of the music students managed to convince the administration that they’d benefit from the study of modern music and the local music scene. Technically, the club was supposed to be about all local musicians, at least on paper, but everyone knew that it was a Sunset Curve club. 

Flynn lowers her voice to a more conspiratory level and presses on. “How have you had weeks of lessons with Luke without the Homecoming show coming up?”

“We don’t talk about music, Flynn, that’s how.”

Flynn gives her what has to be the least impressed of all her unimpressed stares. “You. I’m ashamed.  _ You  _ should be ashamed.”

Then she whips out a flyer from somewhere and presses it on the table next to Julie’s lunch. It’s not the best, as far as flyers go. There’s a photo of the guys in the middle from one of their concerts in the park - four sweaty rockstars captured in their element. Around the photo are the names of the guys, and then at the very bottom, underneath the Sunset Curve logo, is the date and time of the Homecoming dance, seemingly placed there as an afterthought. 

“I thought Carrie was gonna find someone who knew photoshop to help make her flyers.”

“She’s still looking so Nick volunteered to help her out and she didn’t have the heart to tell him it sucks. And anyway, that’s not the point. You know what else I found out from Carrie? Apparently Bobby left the band at the start of the summer.”

Julie gets that Carrie is basically the president of the fan club, and probably tracks their twitter account and everything, but she’s not sure how that translates to knowing so many random things about the band that haven’t actually been announced. “How in the world would she know that?”

“Bobby used to live down the street from Carrie. Or like… a few blocks over or whatever, but the point is that she saw that his parents put up lawn signs over the summer that said ‘proud parents of a Belmont University student’ so she figures he went off to college.”

“Okay, so Bobby went to college… good for him?”

“That means that the band is down one member! Unless Bobby is flying in for Homecoming…”

Julie nodded. “Which he could be, for all Carrie knows. Honestly, there’s enough drama in the world; we don’t need to manufacture more.”

Luckily, once Flynn spends their lunch period giving voice to every conceivable bit of band gossip anyone has heard about Sunset Curve, she seems to get it out of her system. Which is a good thing because it means that Julie has her full attention later in the week as she struggles to pick out a dress for the stupid dance. Her dad had offered to take her, but she knew she was gonna get emotional over it, and her dad would get emotional, and the two of them would never get anything done.

Instead, she’s at the mall with Flynn lamenting even agreeing to go to the stupid thing. 

“You have to go, Julie. Staying home isn’t even an option.” Flynn holds two dresses up to her, trying to find the best color for her skin tone or something.

“I know, I know. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” When it’d become clear that her mother wasn’t going to get better, she’d made Julie promise that she’d enjoy her senior year. ‘ _ I want you to go to all the dances, mija. Try out for every show. Do everything. Do not miss your senior year, okay?’  _ Julie still remembers her mother’s intensity as she’d extracted the promise from her. She’d tried to tell her mom that she didn’t care about her senior year, that she had no interest in doing stupid high school things if her mom wasn’t going to be around for them. But her mom had told her she’d be around - she’d be watching. 

And she’d added that if Julie didn’t do as she said, she’d haunt her.  _ ‘And I’m not talking about Casper the Friendly Ghost - I will Freddy Krueger you! _ ’ It’d been so ridiculous that she’d burst out laughing. Even sick, her mom had been able to make her laugh.

Now the memory just made her sad.

Julie comes out of the memory to Flynn’s hand rubbing her back. “Julie, hey, we can do this tomorrow.”

She quickly wipes her eyes and shakes her head. “No, I’m okay. Let’s do it now.”

  
  


The dress she ends up with is red, and perfectly matches the red lipstick Flynn also helps her purchase. And it’s… okay, Julie supposes. It’s one of those dresses that seems to find the balance between something her father will approve of and something that doesn’t make her look like one of the teachers.

Not that it would matter if she looked like one of the teachers. She’s currently sitting at one of the tables that’s been pushed all the way to the back of the gym watching as Sunset Curve does their opening number to the enthusiastic cheers of… pretty much everybody. 

And she has to admit, they’re good. Really good. Though this isn’t the first time she’s seen them perform - she went to one of their concerts in the park the previous summer. And Carrie was apparently right - they do seem to be down a member, but you wouldn’t know it from their performance.

Flynn marches back sometime during their third number and hauls Julie out of her seat. “You gotta dance, girl!”

And damn those boys, but the music is some highly danceable stuff. Despite missing her mom, and being far from a partying mood, she finds herself having fun and eventually even dancing and singing along as the band plays.

By the end, she’s even cheering along with everyone else as they finish their set.

Overall, it’s a good night, and she doesn’t even have to lie to her dad when he asks her afterwards if she had a good time. Which feels great because she knows he can tell when she’s just putting on a brave face, and she knows it hurts him. To be able to genuinely tell him she had a good time is a relief for both of them.

Which is why Monday morning hits her like a brick to the face when Mrs. Harrison tells her in no uncertain terms that if she wants to stay in the music program, she has to perform in 3 weeks.

Logically, she knows that they’ve been more than fair with her. She understands that she’s part of a competitive program - that there are students auditioning to try to get into the program that she hasn’t even been participating in over the last several months.

But fuck logic, her mom is dead. And every time she sits at the piano to try to play or grabs a mic to sing, she sees her mom’s face in her mind’s eye and feels the loss all over again.

She just can’t do it.

She goes straight from school to her guitar lesson - which is probably a mistake. She knows she should’ve just called the store and let them know that she wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be coming for today’s lesson, but skipping her lesson would mean explaining to her dad what’s going on, and she isn’t ready to face him yet.

So she shows up in a horrible mood, and promptly takes it out on Luke who obviously has no clue why she’s upset and only tries to help her. 

Real classy of her.

She storms out of the store and walks a block and a half to the local park, plopping down onto a bench and feeling even worse now that she’s been an ass to Luke.

She’s tired of crying, but the tears fill her eyes anyway. Life is so unfair. All around her mothers are taking their kids for walks, watching them play on the playground, smiling and buying them ice cream. Why did she have to lose  _ her _ mother? She loves her dad, and she’d never  _ ever _ want to lose him, but he can’t fill the hole left by her mom - no one can. Her mom was her music coach, her piano teacher, her singing partner, her biggest fan, and her most honest critic. Sure, Julie goes to a school where she learns a lot about music, but it was her mom who put the music into her soul, who taught her the joy of sharing her gifts with others…

How is she supposed to move on without her?

Julie takes a shuddering breath and wipes her eyes dry on her sleeve. According to the time on her phone, not only is her music lesson over, but the one after is nearly finished as well. Julie knows from their talks that she’s Luke’s second-to-last class of the day, so he’s about to get off work.

She stands and starts back towards the store, shooting her dad a text that she’ll be a little late. 

She owes Luke an apology.

She arrives at the store to see the guitar teacher in question already seated on a bench out in front of the store. “Wow, you got out of there fast!” 

It’s not how she’d planned to start the conversation, but his last class should’ve ended literally minutes ago - she’s surprised to see him already outside of the store.

“Yeah, the other teacher’s here getting ready for their class. We swap out pretty quick.”

“Oh.” She eases down onto the bench beside him, feeling awkward now that they’re face-to-face. “I uh… I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to take my shit out on you.”

He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. I have my share of bad days - and it sounds like you’re under a lot of stress. I hope it all works out for you.”

Stupid, cute, musically-talented boys who can’t be bothered to cover up their biceps and also just happen to be kind and empathetic -  _ Ugh.  _ Before she even knows what’s happening, Julie finds herself opening up.

“My mom died last spring. She was… she was the one I did music with. She was the one who taught me and… I just don’t know if I want to do it without her.”

“Damn. That really sucks, Julie, I’m so sorry.”

Silence descends between them, but it’s a comfortable silence, thankfully empty of all the stupid platitudes people usually try to give her. Instead, Luke just sits there beside her, staring off into the distance, giving her the space to say more if she wants to.

She suddenly finds that she wants to.

“You know, people are always telling me that me doing music would be a way to honor her memory, or that it’s what she’d want me to do.”

He looks over at her, waiting for her to continue. 

“It’s stupid. Most of the people saying it didn’t even really  _ know _ her. They’re just saying what they think I need to hear. I’m so sick of people telling me how I should deal with this, how I should live my life.”

“People really  _ do _ like to tell other people how to live.” he says, with the air of someone who knows. Which makes her wonder…

“Do you get a lot of unsolicited advice? People trying to tell you what you should do or how you should live?”

“Yeah, all the time.”

“So what do you tell them? Or do you just smile and nod and ignore everything they say?”

He grimaces, and looks down at his lap. “Julie, believe me - I am the very last person who could give you any advice on how to deal with that kinda thing. In fact, if you ever figure it out, please let me know.”

He glances back up at her with a little half smile that she’s not sure how to interpret. She’s about to ask him why he thinks he’s unqualified when a car pulls into a parking space in front of the store and gives a quick honk. Suddenly a guy she recognizes as the drummer from Sunset Curve hops out and approaches the bench. Just as he arrives, Luke stands and gestures to him.

“Julie, this is my friend, bandmate, and chauffeur Alex - Alex, this is Julie.”

“Hi, Alex.” Julie stands and Alex greets her with an enthusiastic “Julie!” as if he’s known her for years. 

He opens his arms wide and he asks, “Are you a hugger?”

“Sure,” she answers, stepping into his arms for a quick hug. 

As soon as he releases her, he turns to Luke and says, “Reggie’s going to be so upset he missed this.” 

Then he turns back to Julie and says, “It was so great to meet you, Julie,” before smacking Luke on the arm and saying “I’ll wait in the car.”

Luke rolls his eyes as Alex heads back to the car and then turns to Julie. “It’s starting to get dark - do you have a ride home and everything?”

“Oh, yeah, I drove here.” Since starting her senior year, her dad has actually been letting her use his car to go back and forth to school while he uses her mom’s. 

He nods, and Julie gets the feeling that he isn’t sure what to say so she continues, “Thanks for listening, Luke. And I’m really sorry for throwing a tantrum in the lesson today.”

“Already forgotten, honest. And I hope it all works out for you. If you need anything… or change your mind about using one of the pianos or whatever… let me know, okay?”

She nods, but before she can reply he continues, speaking in a voice that sounds almost hesitant. 

“Music is my thing, you know? I honestly can’t imagine how I would’ve gotten through my life so far without it. So… I guess you could say I’m pretty biased on the subject, but… I hope you get music back. Even if it’s not today, or in three weeks… I hope you find it again just for the  _ joy _ of it.” He smiles, suddenly sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck. “Anyway. See you next week?”

“Yeah, see you next week.” She stuffs her hands into her pockets and starts to turn towards the side parking lot where she’d parked. “Later!”

“Later, Julie!”


End file.
